Eric Young Jr. a DL candidate, Carlos Gonzalez scheduled to rejoin team Wednesday

NEW YORK — No Rockie is in better shape than Eric Young Jr. But if this strained rib muscle leaves him unavailable Tuesday, the Rockies will likely place him on the disabled list. The Rockies are playing with a short deck tonight, with Young Jr. hurting and Josh Rutledge’s left quad leaving only to play in an emergency.

Ideally, Young could play Tuesday, bridging the gap until Carlos Gonzalez returns from Venezuela. He is scheduled to arrive in New York on Tuesday night, but would not play until Wednesday at the earliest.

Young said that he has dealt with this injury before, and that he felt decent today. He hurt his rib on first-inning check swing.

“These (oblique-type) injuries just create uncertainty,” manager Jim Tracy said, who lost Michael Cuddyer potentially for the season when he re-injured his oblique on Saturday night.

Rutledge has been bothered by a sore left quadriceps since the club played in Los Angeles two weeks ago. It tightened again when he scored on a squeeze bunt in a Thursday’s win over the Marlins. He was not running well Sunday on the bases and was removed from the game.

“I have had this happen before, but not during the season,” Rutledge said.

Also, Tracy indicated that Josh Roenicke will get a breather from the piggyback role. Guillermo Moscoso will replace him as Roenicke gets matchup duty. Roenicke has struggled of late, in part, because of his heavy workload. He has thrown 72 2/3 innings, more than starters Drew Pomeranz, Tyler Chatwood and Alex White.

The Rockies will feature a five-man rotation this week with Drew Pomeranz penciled in to start Friday in Chicago.